Martin Hegner, Ph.D., Professor, Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Ultra sensitive nanomechanical sensing platforms for label-free qualitative and quantitative bio-analytical measurements will change the way we perform diagnostics. We demonstrate that cantilever array sensors are capable to directly track the pharmacokinetics of therapeutic siRNA molecules in tissues and the early detection of miRNA biomarker molecules, which indicate organ pathology induced by adverse drug effects measured from blood serum.

We investigate the use of electrospun nanofibers as highly effective material for the selective enrichment of analytes from samples. We have demonstrated the reliable fabrication of nanofiber mats embedded in microfluidic channels. We have also demonstrated selective capture and release of nanoparticles and bacterial cells. We have further shown that nanofiber mats can function as effective passive microfluidic mixer. Applications for complex microTAS and simple Point-of-Care devices are targeted.

Sample preparation is an important component of any molecular testing that is being done in clinical laboratories. Improvements in nucleic acid extraction and target enrichment are considered to be critical to the workflow of diagnostic tests involving the use of NGS. My presentation will focus on the requirements for CLIA certified clinical laboratories, the various patient specimens to be tested, the methods currently in use for nucleic acid extraction and target enrichment and the commercial kits available in the market. The focus will be on pathogen testing by NGS.

Microbiome is an integral part of human life, and perturbations in microbiome-host balance can lead to human disease. Recently, next generation sequencing technologies have enabled the analysis of the human microbiome. However, the analysis of a microbiome can be both monetarily and computationally expensive, due to the contamination of host DNA in a sample, requiring deep sequencing to be able to detect some microbial species. To overcome this problem, we developed a microbiome enrichment kit that reduces host DNA contamination nearly 50-fold, corresponding to ~90-95% microbiome DNA in the enriched fraction. This simple methodology can be used to analyze entire microbiomes in a cost-effective manner utilizing established next generation sequencing platforms, as well as newer single molecule sequencing technologies.